Improvement in car-couplings



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE W. OOFFIN, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN CAR-COUPLINGS.

Specification formingipartof Letters Patent No. 136,033, dated February18, 1873.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. GOFFIN, of Pittsburg, in the county ofAllegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Gar-Coupler; and I do hereby declare the following to bea full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawing forming a part of this specification, whichrepresents, in perspective, the end of a railroad car to which I haveapplied my improvement.

My improvement is designed to overcome or obviate the necessityof goingbetween railroad cars for the purpose of guiding the link and insertingor withdrawing the pin in the operation of coupling or uncoupling thecars.

Many devices have been made for accomplishing this end; but the majorityare objectionable, in that they add new and additional devices to thecoupling-heads, thereby destroying their simplicity of construction, andrendering them intricate, costly, and liable to get out of order. In myimprovement the coupling-heads are not touched, but retain all theirdesirable features.

To enable others skilled in the art to make anduse my invention, I willdescribe its construction and operation.

In the drawing, the end of a freight-car is represented at a. This caris fitted with a draw-head, b, of any known or common form. Inconnection with these I have shown the draw-head b of the next oradjacent car. Hinged to the end of the car a, in the pivots c and d, isa swinging crane, e, from which hang the two chains f and g. The chain fsupports a pair of tongs, h, the claws t i of which are bent over so asto stand at or nearly at right angles with the handles k, which extendout to the side of the car. The claws t of the tongs, when pendent,extend down to the front of the coupling-head b, and are intended to beused for seizing the link m and guiding it to place when the cars arebeing coupled. The chain g supports the fork 'n, the forked end a ofwhich stands just beyond the end of drawhead I), and the handle nextends to the side of the car. This fork or forked lever is de signedto be used in inserting the pino into or withdrawing it from thedraw-head. These devices are both operative from the side of the car orfrom the platform a, so as to obviate the necessity of going between thecars during the operation of coupling and uncoupling.

VVhen the cars are to be coupled, the link on is seized by means of thetongs h and guided into the adjacent head 6. The pin 0 is placed in thefork n and inserted in the couplinghead 'I).

When the fork n and tongs h are not in use the swinging crane e is swungaround against the end of the car, and the tongs and fork placed uponthe hooks or brackets 12 19.

To withdraw the pin from the draw-head for the purpose of uncoupling thecars, the fork a is inserted'under the head of the pin audits handle npressed down so that the fork, operating as a lever, having its fulcrumat 9, shall raise the pin from its hole.

In the case of passenger-cars, the crane a may be attached to therailing along the front of the platform, and the tongs h be madestraight, and fast long enough to be used with case from the plat-form.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

1. The swinging crane attached to the end of a railroad car, carryingthe tongs h and fork n, so that they may be operative in coupling oruncoupling the cars.

2. The tongs h suspended to the crane e, for guiding the link on in theoperation of coupling. I

3. The fork a suspended to the crane 6, substantially as and for thepurposes described.

In testimony whereof I, the said GEORGE W. OOFFIN, have hereunto set myhand.

GEORGE W; COFFIN.

Witnesses:

B. O. OHRISTY, Tnos. B. KERR.

